A female passenger lost consciousness on a Virgin Australia flight from Brisbane to Melbourne on the morning of Monday, July 29, 2024. The incident left other passengers on board in a state of bewilderment. The flight crew responded promptly to the medical emergency that took place around 9:30 a.m.
The woman, whose identity remains undisclosed, collapsed suddenly on flight VA308 that had left Brisbane early that morning en route to Melbourne. Upon noticing her condition, the flight crew quickly started CPR.
“Virgin Australia can confirm a medical emergency on board flight VA308 traveling from Brisbane to Melbourne this morning,” a Virgin Australia spokesperson confirmed. “Medical experts onboard assisted cabin crew before paramedics met the aircraft in Melbourne. The passenger was taken off the aircraft but unfortunately later passed away.”
The pilot of the aircraft coordinated priority landing arrangements with air traffic control at Tullamarine Airport in Victoria. The plane touched down at around 10:15 a.m., with emergency services ready to assist.
After the plane landed, paramedics immediately attended to the woman and moved her to a waiting ambulance. Despite their best efforts, she did not survive and was pronounced dead shortly after being removed from the plane.
The death of the woman is not seen as suspicious, according to Victoria Police. A report is currently being compiled for the coroner to ascertain the exact cause of death. The incident has sparked concerns among passengers and crew about the possibility of sudden medical emergencies during flights.
Two months prior to this incident, a 73-year-old British man named Geoffrey Kitchen died amidst severe turbulence on a Singapore Airlines flight from London after suffering a suspected heart attack. The aircraft experienced a sudden descent of thousands of feet mid-flight.
In another incident in June, an eight-year-old girl perished on a SkyWest Airlines flight to Chicago, Illinois, after becoming unresponsive due to a medical crisis. Earlier in the year, in January, a passenger on a Jet2 flight from Tenerife to Manchester expired mid-flight, leading to an emergency diversion to Cork, Ireland.
While the aviation industry has protocols in place for handling medical emergencies, these unpredictable incidents underscore the importance of preparation and the necessity for passengers to inform airlines about any preexisting health conditions before taking flight.
